Andrew Zusman is a user experience designer and blogger. He is a graduate of Netcraft Academy, an institute for user experience education, and a UX designer at Inkod-Hypera. He is an alumnus of Indiana University. Andrew is a native Hoosier, but currently resides in Tel-Aviv with his girlfriend and their dog, Indy.

Deeper into the Rabbit Hole

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Having learned HTML and CSS as a kid and then doing both the HTML and CSS courses at Codecademy, my skills in those areas are solid. They’re not great, because I haven’t had much of a chance to use them, but they’re solid. I recently started a pet-project website. When the site launches I’ll link here, but in the meantime, it was troubling to me that I had to pay someone to code a site for me.

This is 2013, I work very closely with code, and yet when it comes down to it I have to pay someone to do the work for me. This isn’t right. Designers should know how to code, and coders should know how to design. I am not a graphic designer, but designers are people who solve problems and I am absolutely a problem solver.

This problem was solved with jQuery.

Javascript is difficult. It’s cumbersome, it doesn’t quite make sense, and my three or four attempts at learning it were all absolute failures. jQuery, on the other hand, is enjoyable to learn! It reminds me a lot of learning CSS and HTML. I’m not sure if server-side programming is ever going to be in my arsenal, but I’m not sure I can afford to skip over coding. It’s too critical in today’s market. So the reason I’m writing this today is to try to encourage my friends to learn these tools as well.

Codecademy uses gamification techniques to help you progress and move forward in learning to code. They have a very simplistic way of explaining things, and it’s a great way to practice while you learn.

If you’re just now reading this blog and you haven’t noticed, I adore Jessica Hische! This is a site she and her husband made to try to ease people in to learning to code. The videos are fun to watch even if you know what you’re doing, and if you are starting from scratch they’re a necessity.

I use Notepad++ to write my code. It’s a free download. When you mark what type of code you’re writing, Notepad++ will help to auto-correct and to mark errors in your code. This is great for beginners and for pros as well.

There are a wide range of other resources, but one thing that I’ve learned is that not everyone learns in the same way. For some people it’s better to practice and to write, and for others it’s better to listen to lectures and watch others write. The three links above are just a way to get going. So let’s go! :-)!